Aliens have landed on Earth. Where do they come from, and what do they want? Finding the answer depends on the combined skills of linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner). In a story that spans the personal to the planetary, how much does Arrival get right? Xenolinguist Sheri Wells-Jensen and Doug Vakoch of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International discuss.

Is there such a thing as the Universal Grammar? Do you have to have a human brain to learn language, or is learning a language just like learning anything else? And are one man’s insights into Amazonian languages sufficient to demolish this theoretical edifice?

Linguists Dan Everett and Lynne Murphy talk to Daniel, Ben, and Kylie on this episode of Talk the Talk.

In this episode, we continue our look at the gradual emergence of Middle English from the linguistic rubble left in the wake of the Norman Conquest. English remained fractured and broken, and foreign influences continued to come in. We explore the changing language of the Peterborough Chronicle. We also examine how a merchant’s failed attempt to buy some eggs shaped the history of the English language.

Professor Steven Pinker joins Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright in the studio for a wide-ranging talk about his love of, and life working in, language. Steven is Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and he’s come up with some of the biggest and most exciting ideas about language. His books include The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and most recently, The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century.